Thursday, February 6, 2014

Crate 01 - Dig' Around the World

I selected a bunch of records for the February episode that I had in my crates for quiete some time, but never had the chance to play. You will hear a mix of rare tunes from Peru, Norway, East Germany, Japan and Nigeria. No talking - just music!

01) Oliver Nelson - Skull Session(Skull Session, Flying Dutchman, 1975)Ok, you got me! I played this track before, but it's too good. I found the record two years ago, when I spent some days at Amoeba Records. The sample-nerds might recognize "Skull Session" from the dope (and also very rare) Cage & Tame1 LP "Waterworld".02) Breaktout - Listen to the Rhythm(NOL, Polskie Nagranie Muza, 1976)Another one for the sample-heads out there. DJ Format sampled the track years ago for "We know something". This record polish record is actually not very rare, but hard to find in a good condition if you don't want to go the easy way via discogs.03) Horace Silver - Acid, pot or pills

(Total Response, Blue Note, 1971)

The jazz pianist Horace Silver began his career on tenor sax, but switched a few years later to piano. Ironically, a saxophone player (Stan Getz) discovered his talent 1950 and took him on tour. Silver moved to the Jazz capital New York afterwards and got scouted by the Blue Note Label - the rest is history. Many jazz purists rank the LP "Total response" very low, as well as a few of his other solo albums from this period. Mostly because Horace Silver does not only play piano, but sings also.

04) Ben & The Platano Group - Culzean(Paris Soul, Barclay, 1971)A great, groovy LP from the beginning to the end. You really have to search hard for a boring, non-dancefloor track on this album and won't find any. No surprise, that you have to pay a lot of dollars to get the original press. Fortunately, there are some good reissues available.

05) La Kabala - El Cumbanchero

(La Kabala, RCA Victor, 1970)

Even a lot of latin-specialized cratediggers have not heard about this great record from Peru. A lot of dancefloor-grooves, spiced up with psych effects and some nice vocals in between. "La Kabala" might be the name of the album as well as the name of the band, but it could also be possible that it's a compilation like it's stated on Discogs. But who are the artists then? A mysterious holy grail that's impossible to find.

06) Shinsuke Kikuchi - B01

(Kamen Rider BGM Collection, Columbia, 1984)

Instead of European television, which just broadcasts American TV-Series in a synchronized version, Japan produced their own shows and developed an unique action-style like Power Rangers or Kamen Rider. The Soundtrack composed by Shinsuke Kikuchi is hard to find, even in the world-capital of records: Tokyo,

07) Joko-Dev-Sextett - Stapellauf

(Single, AMIGA, 1971)

The east German monopolist AMIGA released a lot of funky records, which are mostly forgotten nowadays. Even more rare and obscure is DDR-Psych like "Stapellauf", which was surprisingly not forbidden by the DDR-regime. A lot of rock musicians at that time suffered from a strict censorship. In this case, the band was allowed to release such progressive music beacause the pseudo-proletarian lyrics deals with launching a boat at the dockyard.

08) Stranger Cole - Crying every night (vs. Nextmen Remix)

(Single, Baron's, 1971)

A little mash-up of Stanger Cole's "Crying every night", which is a cover of The Guess Who "These eyes", and the instrumental B-Side by Herman Marquis. The raps are from Haiku D'Etat, a avantgarde HipHop-supergroup from California.

09) Girma Beyene - Ene negn bay manesh

(Single B-Side, Ahma Records, 1969)

Produced by nobody else than the pioneer of Ethio Jazz Mulatu Astatke. This song got popular lately, after it appeared on some Afrobeat-comps and Cut Chemist used it as opening track for his great "Sound of the Police"-mix. Strangely, this single was pressed in India.

10) Willie Bobo and The Bo-Gents - Shut up and pay attention

(Do what you want to do, Sussex, 1971)

One of these albums that are not extremely rare, but see a lot of reissues because so many DJ's want to have a clean copy of it. William Correa aka Willie Bobo was one of the key players who fused influences from latin Soul, rock,
and jazz in the late 1960s and 1970s, in other words: boogaloo!

11) Peter Thomas - Pan-latino

(O Melhor De Peter Thomas, Imagem, 1974)

Unexpectedly I found this Brazilian record in a Japanese store. At first, I thought it's an odd tribute album to the famous German film composer Peter Thomas. But listening to the LP I instantly realized that it has nothing to do with him, except sharing the name and the taste for good grooves. "Pan-latino" is a nice example for this organ-driven gem.

12) The Hygrades - Rough Rider

(Single, His master's voice, 197?)

Back to the African continent! The Hygrades demonstrate on "Rough Rider" how funky Nigeria was in the 70's. Fuzzy guitars and hard-driven grooves meet psychedelic effects. An amazing tune that is only effortable to those who have a few hundred dollars. Everyone else has to be lucky that Soundway Records dug it out for their compilation "The World Ends: Afro Rock & Psychedelia In 1970s Nigeria".

13) That's Why - Dyp av nade

(Taht's Why, Jazzman, 2012)

At the latest since Black Sabbath introdoced the world to Heavy Metal, we all knew: Rock music must be the work of the devil. To bring the youth back on the path of light, the Christian church in Norway started a music project in the 70's called Forum Experimentale. The idea was to combine rock and folk music with religious music. One of the bands was That's Why, who recorded "Children Of The Future Age" and "That's Why Vol. II". In 2012 your favorite DJ's favorite label Jazzman Records released a best of, featuring music from these forgotten treasures.

14) Cortex - Chanson d'un jour d'hiver

(Troupeau Bleu, Disques Espérance, 1975)

There has been written a lot about this great LP. The debut album by the French Fusion-band Cortex is a must-have. The list of artists who sampled from this record in the last few years is long. No wonder why, this piece of vinyl puts you in a special mood from the first to the last second.

15) The Right Kind - My money is funny

(Single B-Side, Galaxy, 197?)

There is not much to say about this record. Just another funk-instrumental, but a good one!